Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Fifield, please wait for this answer. The old system was a conveyor belt. I told you yesterday that I was down in Melbourne talking to the workers who had actually been mentoring the long-term unemployed. And what did they say about the old system? They said it was a conveyor belt with no real pathway into employment—it was just training for training’s sake. This government is about proper reform. Senator Fifield is right: this is a large transition—and it is going to be bumpy along the way. All transitions are when something is this big. Already 700,000 letters have gone out to fully eligible job seekers. We are contacting a large number of jobseekers who were involved in these—